The Extraordinary Power of Woman

My dear body,

I don’t know if what I’m about to say is true but perhaps for today, we can choose to believe in the truth of these words.

When I woke and was met with the sickly wave of nausea and the horrible feeling of my legs seizing up in a rigid pain that is unique to this time of my period, I felt demoralized. Why this torture on top of a worsening crash? I lamented. Why did I go off the pill if it means subjecting myself to even more suffering on top of suffering? How much more can I take?⁣⁣

Oh, don’t forget body, you can take so, so, so much more. You have been driven to the brink of desired demise where the unceasing explosions of pain crescendoed louder than you could have ever imagined possible. And yet, you endured.

Perhaps, it is time to dive into these sensations and ask what they are communicating. Instead of resentment, let’s explore with curiosity.

Could it be that after a near decade of suppressing your natural cycle and your way of expressing the workings of a woman in this vessel, that you are now roaring at your liberation? For so long I clamped a muzzle on you - had my own mouth been forced shut, I can imagine the scream I would unleash the moment my lips sprung free.⁣⁣

Perhaps you will continue to scream for as long as I view you as my foe. Perhaps you’ll send loud cries of pain that reverberate through me for as long as I fail to respect the miraculous way that you function beyond my own comprehension.

What would happen if I embraced you? What if I held up the white flag, extended my palm, and asked if we could exist together harmoniously. What if I simply accepted that this is my lot in life, and truly, if I had a choice between being a woman or a man, would I really choose anything different than this life I was born into?⁣ No. I wouldn’t. Because as I age and observe and explore, I am feeling the extraordinary power of what it is to be a woman. Our ability to endure hardship, suffering, oppression, and pain beyond what man can fathom, and yet we continue to rise.

So let’s rise. Again.

Dive deeper and use it to understand me better. Take this pain and transmute it into something that is more.